With the quick development in the electronic industrial field, the electronic elements in a computer can have largely increased operating speed now. However, the electronic elements also produce an extremely high amount of heat when they operate at high speed. Thus, it is always an important task of the electronic product manufacturers to work out a way for effectively dissipating the heat produced by the operating electronic elements to ensure the normal operation of the electronic products. As it is known, the central processing unit (CPU) is the core of a computer system, the performance of the CPU has direct influence on the computer performance. Similarly, when the computer runs, the CPU thereof will also produce a large amount of heat. When the produced heat is too high, the CPU might not be able to operate normally and cause undesirable shutdown of the computer.
For the purpose of effectively dissipating the heat produced by the CPU during the operation thereof, a thermal module is usually mounted to the CPU. The thermal module mainly includes a cooling fan and a heat sink. The cooling fan is locked to the heat sink, and the heat sink is mounted on the CPU. While the heat produced by the CPU during the operation thereof is transferred to and then radiated from the heat sink, the cooling fan operates to produce and force airflows toward the heat sink to constantly carry the heat away from the heat sink. Thus, the CPU is protected against lowered working efficiency due to overheating.
FIG. 1A is an assembled perspective view of a first conventional thermal module, which includes a cooling fan 10, a mounting rack 11, and a heat sink 12. The cooling fan 10 is connected to one side of the mounting rack 11. For this purpose, the cooling fan 10 is provided at four corners with a through hole 101 each. The mounting rack 11 is fitted around an upper part of the heat sink 12 to locate between the cooling fan 10 and the heat sink 12. One side of the mounting rack 11 facing toward the cooling fan 10 is formed of four projected posts 111 for engaging with the through holes 101 on the cooling fan 10. One side of the heat sink 12 opposite to the mounting rack 11 is in contact with a heat-producing electronic element (not shown). That is, the cooling fan 10 is mounted atop the heat sink 12 via the mounting rack
In producing the first conventional thermal module, the cooling fan 10 must always be connected to the heat sink 12 via the mounting rack 11. Therefore, in assembling the first conventional thermal module, additional procedures of connecting the mounting rack 11 to the cooling fan 10 and the heat sink are required, which will inevitably result in increased production cost and lengthened time for assembling. Due to the additional mounting rack 11, the assembling efficiency in producing the first conventional thermal module is relatively low.
FIG. 1B is an assembled perspective view of a second conventional thermal module, which includes a cooling fan 10, a bridging member 11, and a heat sink 12. The cooling fan 10 is provided at four corners with a through hole 101 each, and the bridging member 11 is provided on one side facing toward the cooling fan 10 with a plurality of projected posts 111. Therefore, the cooling fan 10 can be connected to one side of the bridging member 11 through engagement of the through holes 101 with the projected posts 111. The bridging member 11 can be a connecting seat, for example, for mounting to an upper side of the heat sink 12 and is therefore located between the cooling fan 10 and the heat sink 12. The heat sink 12 has a lower side in contact with a heat-producing electronic element (not shown). That is, in the second conventional thermal module, the cooling fan 10 is mounted atop the heat sink 12 via the bridging member 11.
In producing the second conventional thermal module, the cooling fan 10 and the heat sink 12 are connected to each other with the bridging member 11 serving as a bridge between them. Therefore, in assembling the second conventional thermal module, additional procedures of connecting the bridging member 11 to the cooling fan 10 and the heat sink 12 are required, which will inevitably result in increased production cost and lengthened time for assembling. Moreover, since the cooling fan 10 must always connected to the heat sink 12 via the bridging member 11, the assembling efficiency in producing the second conventional thermal module is relatively low.
In conclusion, the conventional thermal modules have the following disadvantages: (1) increased production cost; (2) lengthened assembling time; (3) low assembling efficiency; and (4) low heat dissipation effect.
It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop an improved thermal module with quick assembling structure to overcome the drawbacks of the conventional thermal modules.